Distribution and interspecies contact of feral swine and cattle on rangeland in south Texas: implications for disease transmission.

The last outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in the United States occurred in 1929. Since that time, numbers and distribution of feral swine (Sus scrofa) have increased greatly, especially in the southern states. This creates a potential risk to livestock production because swine are susceptible to, and can be carriers of, several economically harmful diseases of livestock.

Genetic relationships of American alligator populations distributed across different ecological and geographic scales.

Although much work has been conducted on coastal populations of the American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis), less is known about the population dynamics and genetic structure of populations of alligators confined to inland habitats. DNA microsatellite loci, derived from the American alligator, were used to investigate patterns of genetic variation within and between populations of alligators distributed at coastal and inland localities in Texas. These data were used to evaluate the genetic discreteness of different alligator stocks relative to their basic ecology at these sites.

INTROGRESSIVE HYBRIDIZATION AND NONCONCORDANT EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF MATERNAL AND PATERNAL LINEAGES IN NORTH AMERICAN DEER.

Introgressive hybridization between mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and white-tailed deer (O. virginianus) was studied using sequence analysis of the paternally inherited, Y-linked, Zfy gene. The distribution of Zfy genotypes indicate that male white-tailed deer disperse into the range of mule deer and successfully breed with mule deer does.